Member Spotlight Archive

Ellwood City, Pennsylvania

Changing lives, living change

The Borough of Ellwood City is located in the southern most portion of Lawrence County, about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh in the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania. The borough was founded in 1892 by developer Henry Watters Hartman and was named after Isaac Ellwood, one of the inventors of barbed wire.

Ellwood City played a large role in the seamless tube industry – the first seamless steel tubes in America were pierced in Ellwood City in 1895 by inventor and engineer Ralph Stiefel. The industrial tubing mills led to steel milling industries during the middle of the century.

With a current population of more than 8,500 residents, Ellwood City still has manufacturers and industrial mills operating today, but additional businesses have planted deep roots in the city for many years to come. Some of the major area employers include: Ellwood City Forge, Ellwood Savings Bank, Eric Ryan Corp., Heraeus Electro Nite Co. LLC, INMETCO, and Nalco Co. Recently, the Ellwood City Borough Council worked with a local company to subdivide vacant property to make available for additional industrial use. The new site helps pave the way for the creation of an additional 40 to 50 new jobs.

For more than 60 years the Ellwood City Area Chamber of Commerce has been promoting the Ellwood City area as a friendly place in which to live, work and play. The chamber provides brochures, maps, and referrals to a wide network of agencies, businesses and government offices. The Ellwood City Revitalization civic group has also been involved in future development of central business activities.

Sense of community
Ellwood City hosts an annual festival that showcases arts, crafts, food, music and entertainment. Other popular events include: Holy Redeemer Parish Bazaar, Memorial Day Parade, Christmas in the Park, Outdoor Farmers Market, Relay for Life, and a Storytelling Festival Outdoor Concert series at the beautiful Community Plaza Park. Recently, a comfort station was added to expand usage of Community Plaza Park. In addition, local businesses are routinely visited by a Cash Mob where each participant spends at least $20 at the selected store location.

The borough also celebrates Earth Day in April at the borough Ewing Park, one of several scenic parks in the area. The borough also maintains Stiefel Park where outdoor baseball, softball and deck hockey facilities are widely utilized by numerous community leagues. The natural country setting has been a draw for many golf courses and country clubs that showcase the beautiful landscape and panoramic views.

Efficient energy use
The Borough of Ellwood City and its downtown are at the forefront of LED lighting technology. According to Appalachian Lighting, the local company that produced and manufactured the LED lighting, Ellwood City is the first U.S. community with 100 percent outdoor LED lighting now that the borough’s retrofitting project is complete.

Through Ellwood City Light & Power, all the traffic signals and walks and waits have been changed from 60 to 6 watts, 200 decorative street light poles have been changed out to LED bulbs – going from 100 watts to about 30 watts per light and more than 700 overhead street lights have been replaced – going from 175 to 60 watts. The lights dim to 30 watts around 2 a.m. for continued efficiency, and can be programmed to come on and off at certain times. The borough has seen a reduction of over 60 percent in energy usage for this lighting project.

Ellwood Light & Power provides energy-and money-saving tips for residents to reduce their energy footprint, assist their community and lower their monthly bills.

As a member of AMP, Ellwood City participates in a number of AMP programs and projects that assist in providing reliable energy and other benefits to the community and its citizen-owners. These include:

Landfill Gas Energy, a mixture of gases produced by decomposing garbage and collected by a series of pipes for use in diesel generator units (landfill gas-to-energy sites directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions)

Mutual Aid, a network of municipal electric systems that assist each other when utility emergencies occur that are too widespread to be handled by one system alone

Ellwood City is a leader in LED lighting technology and is committed to efficient energy use.

Ellwood City is a leader in LED lighting technology and is committed to efficient energy use.

Since 2002, the Ellwood City Public Library has been the recipient of five Best Practices Awards from the Pennsylvania Library Association for early learning and early development programs, as well as a David J. Roberts EXCEL Library Service Award.